Multiple stage rotary engine

ABSTRACT

An engine comprising a rotatable casing, a plurality of circumferentially disposed variable volume chambers in said casing, said chambers being serially interconnected and defining a plurality of stages in said engine, means for introducing a motive fluid to rotate said casing into the inner of said chambers, means to exhaust said motive fluid from the outer of said chambers, a plurality of vane holder shafts mounted in a support member disposed in said casing, each of said vane holder shafts having a vane disposed in each of said chambers, said vane holder shafts being rotatable about their axes and being nonrotatable about the axis of rotation of said casing, the sizes and configurations of said variable volume chambers and of said vanes being correlated so that upon rotation of said casing and rotation of said vane holder shafts about their axes the edges of said vanes are maintained in close proximity with the walls of said variable volume chambers, and power takeoff means operatively connected to said rotatable casing.

United States Patent (72] Inventor Jasper-Specs:

S9 Filbert SL, Milton, Pa. 17847 [2|] AppLNo. 88,466 [22] Filed Nov. 10,1970 I45] Patented .luly20, 1971 I54] MULTIPLE STAGE ROTARY ENGINE lflclailng4brlwingl-lp.

[52] U.S.Cl M816, 4l8Il62,4l8/l75,4l8l226,4l8l22'7,418l233 [5|] IILCI Flllc 1/00, F0lcl/30,F0lcll/00 [50] Field 418/6, 162, "5,226,227,233

[ RefereneesClted UNITED STATES PATENTS $20,554 5/l894 Benn 418/6 l,l36,976 4ll9l5 Reaugh.. 418/226 [388,547 l2ll9l8 Fifield 4l8/233 2,l35,l6l ll/l938 BendsiletaL 418/233 2,289,342 7/1942 Canfield.... 4l8/6X 2,965,288 l2ll960 Butler 4l8ll75X l0ll962 Rohsmann,.

1/1970 Ahlsten Primary Examiner-Carlton R. Croyle Assistant Examiner-Wilbur .l Goodlin Auomey-Stepno and Neilan ABSTRACT: An engine comprising a rotatable casing, a plurality of circumferentially disposed variable volume chambers in said casing, said chambers being serially interconnected and defining a plurality of stages in said engine, means for introducing a motive fluid to rotate said easing into the inner of said chambers, means to exhaust said motive fluid from the outer of said chambers, a plurality of vane holder shafts mounted in a support member disposed in said casing, each of said vane holder shafts having a vane disposed in each of said chambers, said vane holder shafts being rotatable about their axes and being nonrotatable about the axis of rotation of said casing, the sizes and configurations of said variable volume chambers and of said vanes being correlated so that upon rotation of said casing and rotation of said vane holder shafts about their axes the edges of said vanes are maintained in close proximity with the walls of said variable volume chambers, and power takeoff means operatively connected to said rotatable casing.

PATENTEDJULZOIHYI 3,594,104

sum 1 or 4 \STEAM INVENTOF? Jens/age JPEEJE 92 WM 4, @Maw ATTORNEYS PATENTEU JULZO IHTI SHEET 2 0F 4 ATENYFHJIJLPOM 3.594104 sum 3 m a MW & 726% ATTORNEYS MULTIPLE STAGE ROTARY ENGINE The present invention relates to an improved rotary engine and more particularly to a rotary engine having a rotary casing which is rotated in response to the action of a motive fluid. The rotary engine of the present invention is characterized by utilizing the outer casing as the rotor which is rotated under the influence of the motive fluid which passes through a plurality of stages in the engine in order to achieve increased efficiency. Each stage of the engine comprises a variable volume chamber in which there are disposed rotatable vanes mounted on shafts and a support member for the vane shafts. Upon rotation of the casing the vanes are rotated so their edges are maintained in close engagement with the walls of the respective variable volume chamber.

The novel aspects of the present invention are applicable to many forms of rotary engines whether driven by steam, compressed air, water or other liquids under pressure, or by any other fluid pressure used expansively or otherwise. in addition the engine may be utilized in the form of an explosive or inter nal combustion engine in which the vanes are exposed to the force of an explosion of gas or an explosive mixture.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel rotary engine.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved low-friction rotary engine of high efficiency which eliminates the need of a fly wheel to produce sustained motion.

Still another object of the invention is to utilize members which do not rotate with the casing as a "fulcrum" against which the motive fluid may act.

A further object of the invention is to provide a rotary engine utilizing a rotary casing in which there are a plurality of serially interconnected chambers of variable volume constituting a multiple stage arrangement which is traversed by the motive fluid in order to obtain a high compounded expansion ratio and high efiiciency.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent as this description proceeds.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is a cross-sectional view in a plane including the axis of rotation of a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken substantially at right angles to FIG. 1 along the line of 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is basically a perspective view of a vane holder shaft and the associated vanes employed in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partly diagrammatic developed view of the variable volume chambers of the FIG. I embodiment showing the relationship of the vanes with respect to the changes in volume of the chambers.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. 1, reference numeral generally designates the rotatable casing of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention. The casing 10 is comprised of three main parts including cooperating sections 12 and 14 which are fastened together by bolts 16, and a smaller end section 18 which is connected to section 14 by bolts 20.

The rotatable casing is supported at its left side as seen in FIG. 1 by means of a centrally disposed tubular extension 22 which is rotatably supported by bearings 24 which are disposed in a stationary bearing support 26. The right'hand side of the casing is supported via a central shaft 28 which has its left-hand end fixed to the casing part 12 by key 30. The other end of central shaft 28 is journaled in the end 32 of s stationary tubular support member 34. through which the shaft 28 extends. The end 32 of the tubular support member 34 is connected by a key 36 to a fixed support 38. The casing part 18 is also supported upon the tubular support member 34 and is rotatable thereabout upon bearings 40.

Steam or other motive fluid enters the casing through an inlet passage 42 which extends from a suitable source (not shown) such as a header having a rotary scal disposed around passage 42 and through the casing part l2 into the innermost stage of the engine which includes a variable volume chamber 44. As will be discussed fully hereinafter, the steam after being expanded in the first stage is exhausted from the first stage to the inlet to the variable volume chamber 46 of the second stage through a connecting passage 48. In similar fashion the steam is exhausted from the second stage to the inlet opening to the variable volume chamber 50 of the third stage through a connecting passage 52. For purpose of illustration, the engine is shown as having three stages but it will be appreciated that the number of stages is a matter of choice. The expended steam is exhausted from the last stage through exhaust passage 54 which extends through the tubular casing extension 22 concentrically around the steam inlet passage 42 to a header (not shown) in rotary sealed engagement with the tubular casing extension 22. By way of example, the fluid under pressure may expand approximately five times in each stage.

The operation and the structural details of the variable volume chambers 44, 46 and 50, and the associated structure as well as particulars of the steam flow through these chambers will be described more fully hereinafter.

Upon rotation of casing 10 in the direction of the arrow at the top of FIG. l, that is, counterclockwise if observed from the right-hand side of H6. 1, as a result of the steam flow through the variable volume chambers to be described hereinafter; an annular internal ring gear 56 which is an integral part of the casing section [4 rotates a plurality of planetary gears 58. The planetary gears revolve about a stationary sun gear 60 which is attached to the stationary tubular support member 34 by setscrews 62. Stub shafts 64 which are journaled to the planetary gears 58 are carried along by movement of the planetary gears. One end of each of the stud shafts is fixed to an annular flange 64 which extends radially with respect to the axis of rotation X-Y of the central shaft 28. The flange 64 is joumaled about the stationary tubular support member 34, and rotation of the flange 64 causes rotation of an annular bevel gear 66 which is integrally connected to the annular flange 64. The annular bevel gear 66 rotates bevel gears 68 which are in driving engagement with vane holder shafts 70.

Referring to FIG. 3, mounted upon each vane holder shaft 70 are three vanes 72, 74 and 76 with the vane 74 being larger than vane 72 and disposed essentially at right angles thereto and with vane 76 similarly being larger than vane 74 and disposed at right angles thereto. The vane holder shaft 70 is preferably made in two parts to facilitate assembly in the apparatus and the parts are fastened together by setscrews 78 which extend through holes in the middle vane 74.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vane holder shafts 70 are rotatably supported within a support member comprised of two cooperating grid members which are disposed at the junction between casing parts 12 and I4 and which each comprise a plurality of radially extending posts or arms 80 which interconnect four concentric rings 82, 84, 86 and of increasing size. The innermost rings 82 are disposed radially inwardly from the small vanes 72. Rings 84 are intermediate the vanes 72 and 74, and the rings 86 are intermediate the vanes 74 and 76. The outer rings 90 have abutting flanges 92 which are pressed against each other upon fastening the bolts 16 as is evident from FIG. I. The outer ends of vane holder shafts 70 are rotatably positioned between the outer rings 90 and the inner ends of the shafts 70 are joumaled in bores 93 provided in the stationary support member 34. Thus, the vane holder shafts do not rotate relative to the X-Y axis of the central shaft 28 but they do rotate about their own axes.

in the illustrated embodiment there are eight vane holder shafts 70 and consequently eight sets of vanes 72, 74 and 76. The gear ratios are determined so that for 360" rotation of the casing 10 the vane holder shafts 70 and consequently the vanes rotate through That is, during 360' rotation of the casing, the vane 72 which is shown in FIG. I as perpendicular to the steam flow from inlet passage 42 will rotate through I80 so that the other side of the vane will now be facing the incoming steam The volume of the variable volume chamber 44 and the configuration of the vanes '72 is such that during rotation of the casing about axis X-Y and during rotation of the vanes about the axes of their shafts the edges of the vanes are always in close proximity to the walls of the chamber 44. To aceompl'lh this the vanes 72 are thickest at the shaft 70 and that the vanes taper outwardly to edges 71 which diverge radially outwardly with respect to each other. Also, it will be seen that the vanes have arcuate transverse edges 73 and 75. The vanes 74 and 76 have similar general configurations as is clearly shown in FIG. 3.

The relationship of the variable volume chambers to the rotating vanes 72 is illustrated in FIG. 4 which is a diagrammatic developed view. In all positions of the vanes the edges 7! are in close proximity to the walls of the chamber 44 and preferably allow a slight blowby of the steam so that the apparatus is relatively The high-pressure steam in pasage 42 enters the chamber 44 essentially at the place of its smallest volume in a position in which the vane 72 is disposed eaentially in the plane between the two adjacent posts 80 of the vane-shaft structures. Upon movement of the annular casing in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 4, the steam from passage 42 expands into an increasingly larger region due to the variable volume of chamber 44. In view of the tapering walls of chamber 44 the steam pressure is presented with increasing surface areas of the tapering walls upon which the steam pressure acts leading to a resultant force to rotate the casing 10 in the direction shown. Since there are eight vanes in each chamber in the illustrated embodirnent, the spacing between adjacent vanes corresponds to 45'of rotation of the rotatable cling 10. Thus, the high-pres sure steam entering the variable volume chamber 44 passes into an ever increasing region over the first approximately llll'ofrotationofthecasingwith theregion inqucstion being bounded by two adjacent vanes 72 and the walls of the chamber 44. Thereafter, the volume of chamber 44 decreases, that is, over approximately I80 of rotation corresponding to attheleftofthefrflhvanen countingfromthe right in FIG. 4 and continuing to the position corresponding to the first vane 72, i.e., the vane adjacent the high-pressure steam inlet 42. When the steam is entering the region of increasing volume, the steam expands and hence its pressure decreases but this is compensated for by the greater effective areauponwhichthestearnisacting.Astheregionofdeereasing volume of chamber 44 is reached by the steam, the steam is padually forced off throuflt the connecting passage 48 to the next stage to compensate for the decrease in volume so that it is not necessary to expend force to compress the steam. By the time the position is reached corresponding so that of thevaneatthelel'tofFlG.4whichisabouttoenterthe restricted narrowest region of the chamber 44 substantially all ofthestcalshlpaledintoconnectingpassagefl.

The steam from connecting passage 48 enters the variable volume chamber 46 as a point at which the chamber 46 is restricted to its smaller size and at which a vane 74 extends ap proximately parallel to the walls ofthe chamber 46. The steam then further expmds through approximately I80 of rotation of the casing ill during which time the volume of chamber 46 is constantly increasing substantially as described previously in conjunction with chamber 44. Thereafler, the steam is progressively exhausted through connecting passage 52 to the variable volumechambsrscofthethirdstage. Asisevident from FIGS. l and 4, chamber has sgrester overall volume than that of chamber 44. Similarly, chamber 50 has a greater overall volume than that of intermediate chamber 46 in view of the fact that the steam is progressively expanding and losing pressure as it flows from one stage to the next. After traversing chamber 50, thesteam which has its pressure further reduced via expansion in this stage is pascd out of the engine through discharge passage 54, for example, to a condenser. (not shown).

The operation of the engine of the present invention may also be visualized by considering a unit comprising a vane support shaft 70 and the two adjacent posts as a fulcrum with the annular casing rotating relative thereto about the axis X-Y since although the shafts 70 rotate about their axis they do not rotate relative to axis X-Y and hence are not subjected to centrifugalforee developed bytheeasingsrotation.

Referring to FIG. 4, the two posts at the right side also function together with the walls of restricted region of chamber 44 to prevent steam flow from the high-pressure side to the lowpressure side of chamber 44.

Power generated in the engine due to rotation of casing 10 may be talten off either by attaching a conventional power takeoff unit (not shown) to the end of central shaft 28 which extends beyond the stationary support 38. It will be appreciated that the apparatus, in lieu of allowing expansion of a fluid, may be used to compress a fluid e.g. air. This-may be accomplislwd by reversing the fluid flow through the engine.

While a presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described with particularity, it will be appreciated that many changes and modifications may readily suggest themselves to those ofordinary skill in the art upon being apprised of the present invention. For example, the number of stages and/or vane support shafts may be varied without departing from the invention and various motive fluids may be employed. Also, other mechanical means may beutiliaedtorotatethcvaneholderlhafls70abouttheiraxes in correlation with rotation of the casing 10. It is intended to encompass these and all other changes and modifications which fall within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

I. An engine comprising a rotatable casing, said rotatable casing being provided with a plurality of variable volume chambers concentrically disposed with respect to each other about the axis of rotation of said casing, supply means to introduce a fluid into one of said variable volume chambers, passage means connecting said variable volume chambers to each other in series to enable fluid exhausted from one chamber to flow to the next, means to withdraw the fluid from the last of said variable volume chambers, a plurality of vane holder shafts disposed in said caing and mounted for rotation about their axes, a plurality of vanes disposed on each vane holder shaft with one vane being positioned in each variable volume chamber, said vane holder shafts being nonrotatable with respect to the axis of rotation of said casing, and means to rotate said vane holder shafts in correlation with rotation of said casing to maintain the edges of said vanes in close proximity to the surfaces of the respective variable volume chambers throughout rotation of said casing under the influence of said motive fluid.

2. An engine according to-claim I, wherein said variable volume chambers increase in overall volume progressively from the innermost chamber to the outermost chamber.

3. An engine according to claim I, further comprising a stationary vane shaft support member disposed in said casing and having portions disposed on opposite sides ofsaid vane holder shafls in close proximity thereto.

4. An engine according to claim I, further comprising a center shaft in said casing and rotatable with said casing.

5. An engine according to claim 4, further comprising a stationary tubular support member disposed around said center shaft, and a support member external of said casing connected to one end of said tubular support member.

6. An enp'ne according to claim 5, wherein said rotatable casing is comprised of three casing sections, at least one of said casings sections being rotatably mounted on said tubular support member.

7. An engine according to claim 1, wherein the vanes increase in size progressively radially outwardly from one variable volume chamber to the nest, said vanes having an arcuate configuration and tapering outwardly from said vane holder shafts to the ends thereof and having a configuration conforming to the largest transverse cross section through the associated variable volume chamber.

8. An engine according to claim 1, further comprising passage means to transfer motive fluid from a region of decreasing volume of the first variable volume chamber, as viewed in the direction of easing rotation. and to introduce said motive fluid to the next variable volume chamber substantially in its region of smallest transverse cross section and in which region the vanes in said chamber are disposed in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said casing 9. An engine according to claim I. further comprising an internal ring gear connected to said casing, a bevel gear fixed to each vane holder shaft, and interconnecting means between said ring gear and said bevel gears to drive said bevel gears and to rotate said vane holder shafts upon rotation of said casing.

10. An engine according to claim 9, wherein said interconnecting means include a plurality of planetary gears meshing with said internal ring gear, a stationary sun gear about which said planetary gears rotate, and a driving bevel gear rotated by movement of said planetary gears about said sun gear, said driving bevel gear being in operative engagement with the bevel gears fixed to said vane holder shafts. 

1. An engine comprising a rotatable casing, said rotatable casing being provided with a plurality of variable volume chambers concentrically disposed with respect to each other about the axis of rotation of said casing, supply means to introduce a fluid into one of said variable volume chambers, passage means connecting said variable volume chambers to each other in series to enable fluid exhausted from one chamber to flow to the next, means to withdraw the fluid from the last of said variable volume chambers, a plurality of vane holder shafts disposed in said casing and mounted for rotation about their axes, a plurality of vanes disposed on each vane holder shaft with one vane being positioned in each variable volume chamber, said vane holder shafts being nonrotatable with respect to the axis of rotation of said casing, and means to rotate said vane holder shafts in correlation with rotation of said casing to maintain the edges of said vanes in close proximity to the surfaces of the respective variable volume chambers throughout rotation of said casing under the influence of said motive fluid.
 2. An engine according to claim 1, wherein said variable volume chambers increase in overall volume progressively from the innermost chamber to the outermost chamber.
 3. An engine according to claim 1, further comprising a stationary vane shaft support member disposed in said casing and having portions disposed on opposite sides of said vane holder shafts in close proximity thereto.
 4. An engine according to claim 1, further comprising a center shaft in said casing and rotatable with said casing.
 5. An engine according to claim 4, further comprising a stationary tubular support member disposed around said center shaft, and a support member external of said casing connected to one end of said tubular support member.
 6. An engine according to claim 5, wherein said rotatable casing is comprised of three casing sections, at least one of said casings sections being rotatably mounted on said tubular support member.
 7. An engine according to claim 1, wherein the vanes increase in size progressively radially outwardly from one variable volume chamber to the next, said vanes having an arcuate configuration and tapering outwardly from said vane holder shafts to the ends thereof and having a configuration conforming to the largest transverse cross section through the associated variable volume chamber.
 8. An engine according to claim 1, further comprising passage means to transfer motive fluid from a region of decreasing volume of the first variable volume chamber, as viewed in the direction of casing rotation, and to introduce said motive fluid to the next variable volume chamber substantially in its region of smallest transverse cross section and in which region the vanes in said chamber are disposed in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said casing.
 9. An engine according to claim 1, further comprising an internal ring gear connected to said casing, a bevel gear fixed to each vane holder shaft, and interconnecting means between said ring gear and said bevel gears to drive said bevel gears and to rotate said vane holder shafts upon rotation of said casing.
 10. An engine according to claim 9, wherein said interconnecting means include a plurality of planetary gears meshing with said internal ring gear, a stationary sun gear about which said planetary gears rotate, and a driving bevel gear rotated by movement of said planetary gears about said sun gear, said driving bevel gear being in operative engagement with the bevel gears fixed to said vane holder shafts. 